Brazil is one of the world's main producers of ethanol from sugarcane, generating substantial residues in the form of sugarcane bagasse. This enormous quantity of bagasse has considerable potential for use as starting material for the production of ethanol by biotechnological processes.
Currently, a large proportion of the bagasse produced in the country is burned to produce energy within the ethanol production plants themselves. However, there is considerable excess (of the order of 16 million tonnes) which could cause serious environmental problems.